Bag filling apparatus



Se t. 15, 1931. J,INEUMAN 1,823,283

BAG FILLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. '7. 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Jami.f/izz 247% 4 ATTORNEY Sept. 15, 1931. 4 J. J. NEUMAN 1,823,283

BAG FILLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 7. 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 ATTOR YSept. 15, 1931. j NEUMAN 1,823,283

BAG FILLI NG APPARATUS Filed Dec. '7, 1 29 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INC/ENTOR.izcafi f/Izmzara 4d ATTORNEY Sept. 15, 1931. J, NEUMAN 1,823,283

BAG FILLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 7. 1 29 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORATTORN Y Sept. 15, 1931. J, J, NEUMAN 1,823,283

BAG -FILLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 7, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR famf 17612122071,

4 1A ATTORN Y Patented sci. 15, 193-1- Moon I. new, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

BAG FILLING APPAPATUS Application med December 7, 1929. Serial No.412,414.

This invention relates to automatic pack-.

aging and convymg apparatus, and has for its general ob'ect an purposeto provide means for lling containers with a commodity and transportingeach container after being filled to position to be operated upon bymeans for sealing or closing the open end of the container and means forsubsequently transporting the sealed containers to and delivering thesanie upon a main conveyer.

It is one of the important objects of the invention to provide simpleand reliable means for releasably holding a flexible container wall atthe'open end thereof in an expanded condition for the feeding of thematerial into the container, and to also provide means for vibratingsaid holding means and the container so as tocause the material to tocompactly mass therein' and thus insure the reception of the material inuniform preon the line 33 of Fig. 1;

determined quantities containers of mimmum size.

A further object of the invention is to is provide electrically operatedmanually controlled sewing mechanism for sewing the mouth of a'bag orfabric container to securely seal the same, and to provide suitableswitch means automatically controlled a by the bag or container to closethe motor circuit for operating a bag conveyer after the stitchingoperation is completed.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a main conveyer forthe filled bags 5 or containers, a second conveyer having aninderiendentoperating motor for transporting t e filled bagsto the mainconveyer, and normally closed switch means in the motor circuit adaptedto be actuated by bags or containers on the-main conveyer to render.said transporting conveyer inoperative and thus prevent collisionbetween bags on the main conveyor and a bag being delivered from thetransporting conveyer.

It is a further general object of my resent invention to provideapparatus of the above character, which is comparativel simple in itsconstruction, reliable and e cient in its operation, and by means ofwhich the B fill sealing and transporting or conveyance of bags orcontainers for various commodities may be materially expediated.

With the above and other ob ects in view, the invention consists in theimproved automatic ac aging an conveying a paratus, as will behereinafter more fully escribed, illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, and subsequently incorporated in the subjoined claims.

In the drawings, wherein I have illustrated one simple and practicalembodiment of the invention, and m which similar reference charactersdesignate corresponding parts throughout the several views,-

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing one 66 practical embodiment of theessential features of my present invention; 1

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on theline 22 of Fig. 1; 70

Fig. 3-is a horizontal sectional view taken Fig. 4 is a plan view,illustrating the main conveyer for the filled bags, the transportingconveyer and the switch means controlling the motor circuit of thelatter conveyer;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a detail side elevation showing another embodiment of thedevice for expending the open end of the bag or contamer;

Fig. 7 is a similar view partly in section showing another alternativeembodiment of the bag holding means;

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view of the control valve for thepneumatically operated device shown in Fig. 7, and a Fig. 9 is adiagrammatic view illustrating the electrical control circuit and switchmeans therein for the various parts of the ap aratus.

eferring in detailito the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1, 2and 3thereof, 5 designates a main hopper which con'- -tains, in thepresent instance, sugar or "other granulated or comminuted commodity tobe filled into cloth bags or sacks, one of which isindicated in dottedlines at B in Fig. 1.

Beneath this main hopper, a smaller secondary discharge hopper 6 isarranged and at its lower end is provided with a downward- 1yprojectingoutlet extension 7 which may be of any desirable crosssectional form. A horizontally positioned frame 8' is fulcrumed' at itsopposite sides-and adjacent one end as indicated at .9 upon the lower.ends of the vertically disposed bars 10 which are suitably fixed attheir upper ends to sealing beams or other stationary parts. In spacedrelation to the other end of the frame 8, the transverse frame plates 11extend inwardly from opposite sides of said frame one of the guides I5and at their other ends against collars '19 fixed upon the ends of saidrods. The other ends of these rods are connected with the movable cores20 of solenoids 21 suitably mounted on the end of the frame 8 at oneside of the fulcrum 9, said solenoids serving as counterbalancing meansfor the part of the frame extending, on the opposite side'of saidfulcrum and, the 'bag holding sections 12 and 13. These bag holdingsections surround the outlet extension 7 of the hopper 6 and at theirlower ends which are spaced from the frame 8 are provided with frictionbands of felt, rubber or other suitable material shown at 22.

The frame 8 is vertically oscillated by means of the pitman rodconnection 23 with the crank arm 24 fixed to one end of the shaft of anelectric motor 25.

Beneath the frame 8, a vertically positioned wall 26 is suitablysupported and beneath said wall and at one side thereof the conveyers 27and 28 respectively, spaced at 33 and 34.

Upon the top of the vertical supporting wall 26 and above one endofconveyer 27 a sewing machine conventionally indicated at 35 issuitably mounted. This machine is operated from thecountershaft 36 bymeans of drive belt 37 traversing a pulley 38 loose on said shaft andprovided with' one element of friction clutch, said shaft 36 beclutchelement 39 fixed'thereon. A drive belt 40 connects shaft 36 with theshaft of the motor 31. The shaft 36 is shifted to operatively connectthe motor with the drive belt 37 of the sewing machine by suitable leverconnections indicated at 41 between one endof said shaft and a footpedal 42 which is also operable to close the circuit of motor 31, aswill be hereinafter more fully explained. The circuit of this motor isadapted to be broken by the engagement of the filled bag'on conveyer 27with 8. nor; mally closed switch 43 which may be suitabl mounted on thesupport 26.

A normally open switch 44 is also arranged in the circuit of motor 32above the conveyer 28 and is adapted to be engaged and moved to closedposition by a filled bag delivered to conveyer 28 from the conveyer 27.

The bags are transported to and delivered uponthe main conveyer shown at45 in Fig.

4 of the drawin which may be common td a series of pac aging machinesabove described. There is also arranged in the circuitof motor 32' aplurality of normally closed switches 46 spaced apart longitudinally ofthe conveyer 45, each of said switches including a movable spring heldplate 47 extending obliquely transversely across the upper stretch ofthe conveyer and adapted for engagement by the filled. bags carriedthereon. As indicated'by the arrows in Fig. 4, the conveyer 28 isarranged to deliver a ba thereon in an oblique path at one side of-t econveyer 45 and in the direction of travel of the upper stretch of saidconveyer. The spaced switches 46. are located adjacent the point ofjuncture of these two conveyers so that it will be evident that a bag onconveyer-45 within a predetermined distance of the conveyer 28 willactuate one of the switches 46 moving the same to open position, thuspreventing operation of conveyer 28 by its motor 32. Thespacing of theseswitches is such with respect to the length ofthe bag that before thefirst switch encountered, and opened by the bag is released for movementto the closed position, the second of these switches, nearest to theconveyer 28 will be engaged by the bag and moved to its open position,thus maintaining the circuit ofmotor 32 0 en. After this second switchis released an returns to its closed position, and providing the firstswitch 46 has not been engaged andopened by another bag on conveyer 45,the circuit ofmotor 32 will then be closed, providing. a filled bag hasoperated the switch 44 so that conveyer. 28 will be operated'to deliverthe filled. bag thereon to the main conveyer 45. i Thus the possibilityof bags being carried on conveyer 45'obstructing the delivery'of thefilled bags from the conveyer. 28 is obviated. mg axia 1y shiftable andcarrying the other The circuit for motors 24 and 31 is also 20 the bagend is expanded and tightly grip I 1,sas,aee

\ ver 48 fulcrumed intermediate of its ends as at 49. When one end ofsaid lever is depressed to engage contact 50, a circuit is closed asshown in Fig. 9 from a positive feed wire 52, conductor 53, wire 54 to.the windings of solenoid 21 and through wire 55, and the field of themotor 24 to the negative feed wire 56. Assuming therefore, that themouth of the bag B has been momentarily supported and held so that thelower ends of the bag expanding sections 12 and 13 are positioned withinthe same,'it will be evident that when the above circuit is closed, thesolenoids 21 are energized to move rods 14" and thus move the section 13away from sefltioii) 12 against the action lof springs 18, t ere y tigt1 en a 'n t e friction bands 22 with the dloth va ll t the bag andopposite sides of its mouth. .Thus

so that the bag is supported in an elevated position above conveyer 27.At the same time, through operation of motor 25, frame 8 isos'cillated,thus vibrating the bag so that as the material is fed intothe bag from hoppers 5 and 6, it is caused to settle or compactly masstherein, thereby insuring the reception of a desired predeterminedquantity of the material in a bag of minimum size.

Upon release of foot lever 48, the above circuit is broken so that thebag holding section 13 returns to its normal position thereby releasingthe bag which drops under the weight of its contents upon conve or A 27.The other end of foot lever 48 is t en depressed to enga e contact 57,and thus close the circuit 0 motor 31 through wire 58, thenormallyclosed switch 43, the field of motor 31, conductor 59 to thenegative feed wire 56 and through conductor 53 to the positive feed wire52. U on energization of this motor, conveyor 2 is operated to move thebag and position the walls of said bag at its mouth or open end forengagement by the needle of the sewing machine 35. Lever 48 is thenreleased, and the sewing 'machine is operated by actuating toot lever42, which simultaneously establishes the driving connection tween theshaft of motor 31 and driving belt 37 as above explamed, and closes thecircuit of said motor by operation of the switch 60 shown in Fig. 9.This switch engages spaced contacts 61 connecting wire 58 with a wire 62connected with conductor 53 and with the field armature of motor 31through wire 63 to which the switch 43 is connected by wire 64, theopposite side of the motor field being connected with the negativecurrent suppl wire 56 by conductor 65. Therefore, it be evident that asthe conveyor 27 progressively moves the 3 ed hag thereon, the sewingmachine 35 is orated to stitch together the opposite side walls of thebag mouth, thus securely sealing the same. During this stitchingoperation, the bag B is engaged with switch 43 and holds said switchopen, the circuit of motor 31 however being closed through the switch60. When the stitching operation is completed and the operator releasespressure on the foot pedal 42, the driving connection between motor 31and the sewing machine 35 is broken. Simultaneously, the bag passesbeyond and out of contact with switch 43 which returns to its normallyclosed position, thus re-establishing the circuit of motor 31 which wasbro ken at the switch 60 when pressure on pedal 42 was released.Therefore, operation of conveyor 27 is continued so that the bag isdischarged from one end thereof as indicated by dotted lines at the leftin Fig. 1, upon the conveyer 28.

When the sealed bag falls upon conveyer 28, it engages and closes theswitch 44 in the circuit of motor 32- and if both of the "switches 46are also in their normally closed is broken so that t e bag will merelybe supported in a stationary position on com veyer 28, thus avoidingcollision between the bags on conveyer 45 and the bag delivered fromconveyer 28 and interruption of the proper oieration of the apparatus,as above explaine In Fig. 3 of the drawings, 1 have shown a modifiedform of the means for operating the movable section 13 of the bagholding device. -Thus, in lieu of the solenoids 21, a

small motor 66 maybe mounted upon the end of the frame 8 and the ends ofrods 14 connected to a rack 67, the teeth of which are engaged by apinion 88 on the motor shaft. The circuit control means for the motormay be the same as that provided for the solenoids 21 as abovedescribed.

In Fi 7 and 8, I have shown another alternative form of this means formoving the bag holding member or section 13, in which a pneumaticallycontrolled means is provided for actuating the rods 14. Thus a piston 69reciprocating in the cylinder 70 fixed upon the frame 8 is suitablconnected with the rods 14. A pipe 71 a 'ts air or fluid supply pipe 74is connected centrally I with the passage 73, said passage beingprovided at opposite sides of its central por-:

tion with valve seats 75 and 76 respectively.

A red 77 isloomly movable in the passage 3'2 and provided with spacedvalve heads 78 and 7 9 for e agement upon the seats 75 and 76 respectiveOne end of the rod '77 is connected wit a suitable lever 80. In theposition of the valves 78 and 79 as shown in Fig. 8 ofthe drawings,communication between supply pipe 74 and the c linder 70 is closed byengagement of the va vs 78 on the seat 75. When lever 80 is actuated tomove the valve rod 77 upwardl valve-79 is engaged with seat 76 while t evalve 78 is disengaged -from seat 75 thus permitting the air or otherpressure-fluid to pass from sup.-

tus, the manner of its operation, an

ly pipe 74 through the passage 73 upwardi} through pipe 71 and into'thecylinder 70, where it acts against the piston 69 to move said piston inthe cylinder, and thus shift the bag hol section 13 against action ofsprings 18 as a ve explained to engage said section of the bagwallanglfroperly support the bag while it is being ed.

From the foregoing description considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings, the construction of the ap araseveral advantagesthereof will be clearly understood. It will be seen that b meansthereof, bags or sacks may be rapi ly filled with uniform quantities ofsugar or other granulated or comminuted materials, and such filled bagsdelivered from a plurality of the machines upon a common conveyor to bedeliveredthereby to a storage room. It will of course, be understoodthat the showing'of the mounting and arrangement of the severalconveyers is merely suggestive, and that various other arrangements ofthese conve ers may be resorted to while still ac-, comp hing thepurpose of the present in vention. Also various other t es or forms ofthe circuit closing and opemng switches asabove referred to might beemployed. Likewise, although I have referred to several alternativedevices for operating the bag holding and supporting means, it willnevertheless be understood that other structural embodiments of thispart of theresent disclosure might be adopted. There ore, no unnecessarylimitations are to be implied from the foregoing detail description, andthe rivilege is reserved of resorting to all such egitimate changestherein as maybe fairly embodied within'the spirit and scope of theinvention as claimed.

I claim: 1. In packaging apparatus, means for fillingpa container,sealing mechanism spaced from'the filling means, a conveyer forsupporting and movlg' the filled container from t e filling means tosaid sealing means, a common operating motor for the conveyer I andsealing means, manually operable means for energizing sald motor. andoperatively connecting the same with the so means, and meansautomatically'controlle by the the sealed container and operable afterthe container has been sealed to energize said motor m. 2. In packagingapparatus, means for filling a container, sealing means spaced from saidcontainer, a conveyer for receivin and moving the filled container fromthe 'ng means to the sealing means, a common operating motor for theconveyer and the sealing means, a circuit therefor, a normally openswitch in said circuit, manually controllable means for simultaneouslyestablishing an operating connection between said motor and the sealingmeans and for closing said switch to move the container relative to thesealing means, and an additional normally closed switch in the motorcircuit automatically engaged and held in open position by the containerduring the sealing operation and operating after the sealing means isoperatively disconnected from the motor to close the motor circuitindependently of said first named switch and continue the operation ofthe conve er to discharge the sealed container there rom.

3. In packaging apparatus, a conveyer, means mounted above and inrelatively fixed relation to the conveyer engageable withm the open endof a container and with opposite walls thereof to sustain the containerin a suspended position above the conveyer while the container is beingfilled, and means for vertically vibrating said suspending means withthe container and its contents during the filling o eration.

4. In pac aging apparatus, a conveyer, relatively movable membersadapted to be positioned in the open end of a container,

" means for separating said members and expanding the same againstopposite side walls of the container to sustain the container in asuspended position above and out of contact with the conveyer duringfilling of the container, .means or vertically vibrating said memberswith the container and its contents during the filling operation, andmeans for returning said container supporting members to normal positionto release the filled container and perfnit the same to drop by gravityupon said conveyer.

5. In packaging apparatus, a vertically neaaaea discharge end of thefeed hopper, one 0 said members being fixed to said frame and the othermovable relative thereto, said members having end portions ada ted to bepositioned within the open end 0 a container, manually controllablemeans connected with the movable member to separate said members andfrictionally engage the ends thereof with opposite side walls of thecontainer to sustain said container in sus ended relation to the frame,means for vertically vibrating said frame and the container during thefilling operation, and means for returning said movable member to itsnormal position to release the filled container.

7 In packaging apparatus, a horizontally positioned frame fulcrumedadjacent one end for pivotal movement, a material feed hopper, opposedmembers normally surrounding the outlet end of the ho per, one of saidmembers being fixed to t e frame and the other movable relative thereto,said members extending below the frame and provided at their lower endswith means for frictionally engaging opposite side walls of a containerat the open end thereof, rods slidably supported on the frame andconnected to opposite sides of the movable member, spring meansyieldingly holding said rods and the movable member in a normalposition, means mounted on the frame for moving said rods against theaction of said s rings to separate said members and expan the lower endsthereof against the container walls to suetain the container insuspended relation to the frame during the filling operation and meansfor vertically, vibrating said ame and the container during filling ofthe latter.

8. In packaging apparatus, a vertically "vibratory frame, container suportin members adapted for engagement wlthin t e open end of a container,and manually controllable means mounted on the vibratory frame formoving one of said members rectilinearly in the frame relative'to theother member to frictionally engage said members with opposite sides ofthe container wall and sustain the container in suspended relation tothe frame, and means for vibrating said frame and the suspendedcontainer.

9. In packaging apparatus, a vertically vibratory frame, members adaptedfor engagement with the wall of the container to support the same insuspended relation to the frame, one of said members being rigidly fixed1n the frame, means for mounting the other of said members forrectilinear shdmg movement towards and from the operation, and

fixed member, means for actuating said slidable member, and means forvibrating sald frame.

In testimony thatI claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed myname hereto.

Y JACOB J. NEUMAN.

